Pepsi steals Santa from Coke

The Cola wars are heating up again this summer with Pepsi taking aim at one of rival Coca-Cola’s longstanding advertising icons: Santa Claus.

“Its right for Pepsi to play with this inside joke that in summer time everybody drinks Pepsi, even the most iconic Coke celebrity, which is Santa,” Massimo d’Amore, CEO of PepsiCo Beverages America, told Advertising Age.

“Hyper-competition is always good to sell more soda. Consumers love the cola wars.”

The TV ad “Summer Time,” from TBWA/Chiat/Day, shows Santa dancing on the sand at a beach party and telling the bartender that he wants a Pepsi, not a Coke.

The bartender looks confused. “But Mr. Claus, I thought you had a deal with, uh, you know…” Santa responds, “I’m on vacation. I want to have a little fun!”

PepsiCo announced earlier this year that it would bump up marketing on its beverage brands by 30% after Diet Coke eclipsed Pepsi as the No. 2 soft drink brand in 2010, behind Coke.

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